His captors wanted to know if Obama is gay and “were obsessed with American soft drinks”

Bowe Bergdahl, the deserter who tried to join the Taliban only to be taken captive by them, has been sitting down for a series of interviews with filmmaker Mark Boal and that are available via podcast. In these interviews, Bergdahl describes escape attempts, the Taliban’s weakness for sweets, and their curiosity about whether or not Obama is gay.

Bergdahl said he saw his first chance at escape soon after his abduction in Afghanistan’s eastern Paktika province, when a water delivery temporarily distracted his captors. He managed to slip off the chains binding his hands and feet and unlatched the flimsy wire holding the door to his cell closed.

He was free for only 15 minutes, running barefoot over rocks and climbing onto a roof and covering himself in mud to hide, he said in audio used by the podcast. He was caught in moments and hauled back into his cell, where men beat him with a rubber hose. They then blindfolded him and moved him to a new home, in what he now believes was North Waziristan in Pakistan, he said.

In a later attempt to escape, Bergdahl was longer than fifteen minutes; he managed to evade capture for seven days.

The Post continues:

Eventually, Bergdahl was moved to what he described as a wooden fortress and placed in a cell with an open window. By that time he had managed to squirrel away a few objects — an 8-inch piece of PVC pipe, a random key, an empty soda bottle, a nail and a wooden slat — from which he was able to hatch his next escape plan.

“I practiced all the nights before, counting the hours down until everything was silent so I knew everyone was asleep,” he said.

He shimmied from his window down a rope made from bedding and the chains he’d removed from his hands and feet. When he hit the ground, it was like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, even though he knew the road to safety would be perilous.

. . . . The darkness would be his downfall.

A few hours into his journey, he accidentally stepped off a cliff in the dark and badly injured his left side. Unable to walk, Bergdahl crawled across the rural, hilly landscape and tried to stay hidden in shelters made of sticks for the next week. To survive, he ate a few blades of grass and drank filthy water.

. . . . The Taliban search team found him on day eight, so frail and sick that they only ripped out some of his hair and beard — as opposed to beating him — as punishment.

Bergdahl also relates that his captors were often bored and asked strings of questions.

The Post continues:

Although watching over Bergdahl was a high honor, the guards were often bored and would pass the time by making videos of him, interrogating him with ridiculous questions or shaving his beard into shapes they found amusing, he said.

“They ask you, is Obama gay and sleeps with men?” he recalled. His young guards were also curious about where US military bases got their prostitutes, alcohol and drugs, and were obsessed with American soft drinks, he added.

“They love Mountain Dew. If you want to piss people off in that country, all you do is cut off their sugar supply,” he said.

Bergdahl is facing a court martial for desertion and for endangering fellow soldiers and a possible life sentence for misbehavior before the enemy.

Keep in mind we have many distorted versions of what he did or didn’t do. And those versions are coming from some who have an agenda that’s not clear at this time.

Regardless of how he wound up being captured by the Taliban, no one questions that he was a prisoner and was for 4 years.

Why they didn’t just give him a general discharge and let him go is a mystery to me. It seems that someone somewhere wants vengeance and not necessarily against Bergdahl.

Listening to his fellow unit mates, I suspect that there was some leadership problems. That may or may not come out at his court martial. I don’t believe the Army is going to come out looking good and probably neither are the men in his unit.

Bergdahl undeniably has psychological problems. Whether he did before or after he went awol is hard to tell. He may have been unable to get along with the rest of the unit and felt he would be better off leaving. Outcasts in a military unit can be living in a hell most civilians can’t understand.

And of course his unit mates are not going to testify to any wrong doing or provide any reason that could justify Bergdahls problems. The violent and virulent reaction by those men says there are some unresolved issues that we may never be able to extract the truth about.

They should’ve just discharged him and been done with it. He did spend 4 years in hell whether he put himself there or not.

Gremlin covered this pretty well. I’m just going to add this.
” no one questions that he was a prisoner and was for 4 years.”
“He did spend 4 years in hell whether he put himself there or not.”
Any evidence beyond his and the Taliban’s highly suspect word? Quite a few people have NEVER believed him to be a prisoner. As NavyMustang mentioned, Taliban and other Islamist groups rarely allow captured US troops to live longer than a few good torture videos.

“Keep in mind we have many distorted versions of what he did or didn’t do.”

Which are irrelevant since the basic simple facts that he has admitted to openly completely justify the charges against him.

“And those versions are coming from some who have an agenda that’s not clear at this time.”

You mean the very consistent stories coming from the men he served with who are not accused of desertion?

“Regardless of how he wound up being captured by the Taliban, no one questions that he was a prisoner and was for 4 years.”

A circumstance that resulted from his own dishonorable actions, for which he should receive not an ounce of sympathy, nor will he from me.

“Why they didn’t just give him a general discharge and let him go is a mystery to me.”

Because you don’t just let deserters go.

“It seems that someone somewhere wants vengeance and not necessarily against Bergdahl.”

Yes, yes, its all those racists that are out to get your hero Obama.

“Listening to his fellow unit mates, I suspect that there was some leadership problems.”

Which does nothing to justify his actions. There is a chain of command in place for a reason.

“That may or may not come out at his court martial.”

It shouldn’t because it is irrelevant.

“I don’t believe the Army is going to come out looking good and probably neither are the men in his unit.”

LOL, I think you have let your delusions go to far. The only place this POS is a hero is in the Washington bubble and in the demented minds of people like you.

“Bergdahl undeniably has psychological problems. Whether he did before or after he went awol is hard to tell. He may have been unable to get along with the rest of the unit and felt he would be better off leaving.”

Yes, and there are ways to do that other than desertion.

“Outcasts in a military unit can be living in a hell most civilians can’t understand.”

Since I am a retired Ranger I can understand perfectly, I also realize how full of crap you are. Sure outcasts can have it bad for a while, but in reality today in the military basically all you have to do is tell them you quit and you can go. I mean come on they have damn hotlines to call if you feel the drill instructors are being to mean to you.

“And of course his unit mates are not going to testify to any wrong doing or provide any reason that could justify Bergdahls problems. The violent and virulent reaction by those men says there are some unresolved issues that we may never be able to extract the truth about.”

So in defending this POS you would try to smear the honor and word of men who served with loyalty? A loyalty and honor that the deserter can lay no claim to. How dare you?

“They should’ve just discharged him and been done with it. He did spend 4 years in hell whether he put himself there or not.”

However, back here in reality he left his unit, endangered the lives of fellow soldiers for his own selfish reasons, his actions most likely lead to the death of other soldiers, since after he was captured within 2 weeks the enemy in the area changed the way they operated and seemed to have uncanny insight into our tactics.

In reality getting him back will most likely lead to hundreds of deaths since the 5 that were released to get him will and probably are going to return to terrorism and he is partially responsible for every death that comes as a result of that.

If I had my way he and the 5 would have been dropped by 3 hidden snipers and Hell-Fire missiles would have obliterated the vehicles that the pot bellied savages who brought him came in, while our boys in the chopper got good photos and video of the festivities.

Since that did not happen, the all he really deserves is a choice between a firing squad and hanging. The possibility of a life sentence is a gift.

Oh, and before you start the “leave no man behind” BS, he became an enemy combatant the moment he chose to leave his post. Just for your education had he been caught deserting any officer would have technicall had every right to execute him on the spot since they were in a combat zone.

And I don’t buy Bergdahl’s BS about trying to escape. From what I know, any other soldier who was captured by the Taliban has not lived to tell the tale. Do you think they would have let Bergdahl live if he tried to escape?